Drudge's Power of The Press

It was a double siren night for "citizen journalist," Matt Drudge. I'm not saying this has never happened, but I've never seen it happen and I've been a frequent flyer of The Drudge Report since Monica Lewinski owned a blue dress.

Drudge's sensational, nonlinear reports on his website Friday night, Dec. 29, 2006, contained headlines like "Pentagon: U.S. Forces Ready For Violence" and "SADDAM: THE END." These were subsequently linked to stories at major news organizations. Drudge even had a photo labeled, "HANGING SCENE."

His nonlinear reporting style has showcased major news organizations for years and introduced Internet news readers to these agencies. Among the many agencies are, The New York Times, MSNBC, BREITBART and the Associated Press.

Joseph Farey, of WorldNetDaily, concurred with Drudge's news-releasing style. He said, "With his (Drudge) brilliant use of links, he gave us an easy way to compare and contrast news accounts from all over the United States." Drudge's "nose for news" has been compared by some to Walter Cronkite.

As for the double siren, I'm reporting about what everyone else is talking about, the execution of Saddam Hussein. Hussein was hanged Friday night, Dec. 29, 2006, for crimes against humanity at approximately 10:10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The execution came after Hussein was found guilty on Nov. 5, 2006, of murdering one hundred forty-eight men and boys in the town of Dujail. These murders were committed in 1982. According to CNN.com, the massacre at Dujail was one of the top twleve atrocities committed by Hussein. There are 5 hundred documented cases during the Hussein regime.

Along with Hussein, two other defendants were found guilty for the murders in Dujail, but their executions were postponed and reports said this was because the country needed to embrace this isolated execution for a "historic distinction."

Far larger atrocities at the hand of Hussein have yet to be tried, but news reports have stated that the new Iraqi government will continue to prosecute the dead, former leader.

According to Drudge's site, over 14 million people had gotten their Hussein updates from him in those last twenty-four hours. In the past year, Drudge's site has taken 4,044,654,785 hits from new junkies and even professional journalists.

Certainly these professional journalists have mixed feeling about perusing Drudge's site. Drudge came from humble beginnings and even worked as a convenience store clerk. His passion for news sky-rocketed him to one of Time Magazine's most influential people in 2006.

It's common knowledge all over cyberspace that when Drudge has a siren up, something big is going down, whether it's hard-core news or salacious activity. Internet news junkies and professional journalists alike wait patiently for the triple.